12/24/07 - Christmas Eve - Titus 2:11-14

HIS BIRTH IS JUST THE BEGINNING
- He gave himself up for us
- He redeemed us
- He purified us

Here we are at the apex of the season. This entire month of December has been building up to this point and we’re finally here. We’ve been overloaded with a smorgasbord of Christmas sensations for so long that it’s a good feeling to be at the end of it. It’s December 24th. It’s Christmas Eve. The night we celebrate Christ’s birth is upon us and Christmas morning comes with the sunrise.
But it’s really just the beginning. Jesus’ birth, the Son of God’s entrance into this world as a human being is just the beginning. It’s not over. It’s far from over. This month leading up to Christmas is just a warm up compared to what happens now. Because that little baby in the manger would mean absolutely nothing to us if he remained a little baby. Jesus lying in an animal stall doesn’t save us. Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the sheep huddling around his makeshift cradle doesn’t save us either. Jesus had to get out of that cradle and do three very important things. He had to give himself up for us. He had to redeem us. And he has to purify us. If he hadn’t accomplished each one of those three things we wouldn’t be here tonight celebrating his birth.
Of course, his birth was the first step. “The saving grace of God has appeared to all men,” Paul tells us in the book of Titus. That saving grace appeared to us in the God-man Jesus. It was necessary for him to come to earth as a true human being. There was no way around it. Because if he was going to be the substitute for the human race, he had to be a real human being. That was the only way he could live the life we couldn’t live, do the things we couldn’t do, conquer the things we couldn’t conquer, and endure the punishment we couldn’t endure. God in flesh. The all-powerful, Almighty Lord himself contained in the casing of a human body. He had to live a human life so that he could one day give that life up for us.
We usually don’t think that way, do we? The sight of the new life of baby Jesus in a manger usually doesn’t remind us that he would one day willingly give that life up. But that’s the entire reason Jesus was there in that barn. He was born so that he could die. And not just a regular death. A death for us! A death in our place! Because we would not be able to bear the death Jesus took for our sake. The death Jesus died involved the real and everlasting tortures of hell, Jesus’ death included rejection from his own Father, Jesus’ death carried the weight of all the guilt for every sin of all people. That’s why Jesus died. And that’s why Jesus lived. Do you think about Jesus hanging on the wooden cross when you see Jesus lying in the wooden manger? You probably should. Jesus wasn’t born to live a nice, comfortable, cozy life. He was born to hang on a piece of wood! He was born because your sins put him there. He was born because you deserved to be there. And so Jesus came to give his own life up in your place. We should be here not only to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but also his death!
Are you here to celebrate Jesus’ death? Or are you here because it’s a family tradition to come to church tonight? Are you here just because it makes you feel good? Are you here because you’d feel a little guilty if you didn’t go to church on Christmas Eve! Are you here because you better do your duty and you might even earn a couple brownie points with the Big Guy - if all of that stuff matters? Are you here tonight not because you necessarily want to, but because that’s just what you do: you go to church? Are you here because it’s a nice time of year to hear some nice things about the nice little baby Jesus? You mean to tell me you aren’t here to celebrate Jesus’ death? That’s why the shepherds came: the one who would die for them was born! That’s why the wise men eventually came to see the child Jesus: the one who would die for them was born! That’s why the prophet Simeon lifted the baby Jesus up in the temple and that’s why the widow Anna praised the Lord when she saw Jesus as well. This was the one who would die for their sins! This was the one who would give his own life for them! This is one who died for you, even if you’re here tonight for all the wrong reasons. He died for those sins too. And every other sin you will ever commit. And thankfully every other sin that I will commit - because I know there will be plenty of those.
“He gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness,” is what our text says. To redeem means to buy something back with a ransom. And the ransom price was Jesus’ own blood. At Jesus’ death his blood bought us back. From what? From our own wickedness! We were sitting on death row. There was no hope, there was no chance for pardon or escape. Hell awaited us for all eternity because of our sins. Until Jesus bought us back. He paid the price. He gained our freedom. That’s what that cute little baby Jesus came to do. He came to cancel sin, to conquer the devil, and to nullify death. That’s why Jesus’ birth is just the beginning. His birth would be pointless unless he also gave up his life to redeem us.
And even that’s not all. He not only gave up his life to redeem us, he also gave up his life “to purify for himself a people that are his very own.” And that’s a little bit different picture. Purify is a word that really comes to us from the Old Testament. In the Israelite culture there were numerous laws and regulations about being ceremonially (outwardly) clean. Those who touched a dead body, those who came into contact with an unclean animal, those with certain kinds of sicknesses… all of those people had to undergo a process of purification. After they accomplished the mandatory requirements and the appointed time had passed, the person was then purified. He was clean again. He could go on with his life as before.
We too need to be purified. Not an outward cleansing, but an inner cleansing. And we don’t do it ourselves. Jesus does it for us. And when the Bible says that Jesus purifies us, it is really equivalent to saying that he forgives us. We constantly sin and so we are constantly unclean. And if we are continually unclean, we need to be purified over and over again. Jesus purifies his children every time we confess our sins and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness. He purifies his children every time we join together in the Lord’s Supper and receive the forgiveness of sins through his true body and blood. He purifies his children every time a person is baptized and accepted into God’s family through his promise of forgiveness. It is necessary for us to be purified so that our sins no longer count against us. That’s why the Lord repeats his promise of forgiveness in Scripture so often. We need to be forgiven. We need to be purified. That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished. That’s what Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem began.
I don’t want to downplay Christmas. I don’t want to make it seem like Jesus’ birth was an insignificant event that can be skipped over without a second thought. His birth is a momentous event. We as Christians should be overjoyed to celebrate his 1st Coming into this world. But I want you to realize that it’s only the beginning. For the rest of the Sundays throughout 2008 we will be learning about what Christ has done, what he has accomplished, what he promises us, how we can thank him, and what we can look forward to. There is so much more to the story than shepherds, angels, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger. It’s a great opening chapter, without a doubt! But be ready to see and hear and read and study everything else Jesus has done, is doing, and will continue to do in these next weeks and months and years. Because tonight is just the beginning of the salvation that is to come.
Amen.

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” - 2 Peter 3:18